Intuitive Value: Celebrate Summer Garden Tour 2014

What better way to celebrate the first day of summer than to spend the day on a Garden Tour? A full day of fun and education put on by The Master Gardeners of the Ozarks from Taney and Stone Counties in SW Missouri. This is the same Branson Area Chapter that hosted the Five Oaks Farm Tour at Forsyth last year that I blogged about. You can find it using the "Search" tool on the right.

This year was a "go on your own" tour that covered three stops beginning in Kimberling City, then a private garden in Blue Eye, lunch and tour at Persimmon Hill Berry Farm, College of the Ozarks, and we ended at Big Cedar Lodge. Keith and I were looking forward to this day and got up early for the 2-hour drive from Hermitage.

Registration was at the Senior Center in Kimberling City where we got our packet and map. We had registered and paid $22 each online previously so we were ready to go after some early morning refreshments at 8:00 am. We walked around the building and saw the Master Gardener approved gardens that the chapter designed and maintained. There were 23 perennials/shrubs/trees and eight annuals around the Senior Center. Lovely.

The next stop on our tour was a short distance to the Library where there was a KAL Children's Garden. The Mission of the KAL Garden is to provide a garden environment in which plant based and reading activities generate interest and appreciation of reading and horticulture that lead to a lifelong pursuit of these beneficial activities. The plant list is extensive. There are eight trees/shrubs, 23 flowers in the ABC Garden, and 28 other annuals and perennials. Volunteers for the library installed irrigation and the garden is currently funded with grants from the Master Gardeners of the Ozarks and the Kimberling City Area Library Association.

KAL Children's Garden at The Library in Kimberling City

The last stop in Kimberling City was at the Kimberling City Center - a shopping mall with about two dozen businesses. One was the Table Rock Art Gallery www.tablerockartguild.com where there was an Art Walk on this day. Keith found a couple pieces he liked. This day was also the dedication and demonstration of a new Storm Water Management Project. The previously paved parking lot was redesigned. This 3-acre lot will now capture an estimated 8 pounds of nitrogen, 1.5 pounds of phosphorus, 4 pounds of metals (iron, copper, lead) and 125 pounds of soil and minerals per year off cars and trucks.

While the nutrients, nitrogen, and phosphorus do not sound like a lot of pollution, keep in mind that it only takes one pound of phosphorus to enable the growth of 700 pounds of algae in the water! Metals such as lead can also concentrate in fish which is a bad thing for people that like to eat what they catch. Table Rock Lake is within view of this shopping center and is known as one of the best for bass fishing.

Storm Water Management Project - parking lot area of the Kimberling Center

Crossing the bridge over Table Rock Lake, we drive to Blue Eye. Linda Redford currently has what many people sat is the most beautiful garden in the area. Her house is more than a century old and she promised her family she would not sell. She has restored the house and revived the gardens she grew up with. Her father was also a fishing guide in the area and Linda is a member of Women's Professional Bass Tours and travels for tournaments all over the country. Gardening and fishing is her life!

Linda Redford's Garden in Blue Eye

Linda Redford and her 100+ year old house

Time now for lunch! Persimmon Hill Farm is a real berry, fruit, and mushroom farm that began several decades ago. The current owners started in 1982 turning two acres into blueberry fields with hives of honeybees for pollination. They added fields of blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, plums and more. Their goal was to provide top quality berries and an enjoyable family experience where Branson Area tourists could pick their own fruit. The addition of log-grown shiitake mushrooms began a new gourmet product line. Other products developed and available for sale include barbecue sauces, jams/jellies, mushroom sauces, with a total of 30 gourmet food products. They ship gourmet food items and baskets all over the world. www.persimmonhill.com

Here we met up with Beth and Frank from our Hickory County Master Gardener Chapter. Lunch was not what we expected. The Thunder Muffin was good though. The company was the best part. When we took the tour, this farm was not at its best. They had experienced a recent hail storm that tore up plants, the mushrooms were not growing at this time, and it was getting too hot to walk around much. So time to move on…

Persimmon Hill Berry Farm - sorting blueberries

Big Cedar Lodge is proud of their environmental efforts that enhance the natural beauty that surrounds the area. Their motto is "Take care of the soil, don't worry about the plants." To create and nurture rich soil in which they grow their gardens, they compost with their vast supply of horse manure, any plant/grass clippings, and a plentiful supply of vegetable and fruit waste from the kitchens. They also fertilize with organic fertilizer in the spring and fall. They provided a small booklet of Gardening Tips from Big Cedar along with descriptions/photos of many of their plants in the landscape. www.bigcedar.com

"Your sacred plants, if here below,

Only among the plants will grow.

Society is all but rude,

To this delicious solitude."

~ Andrew Marvell

"Remember, we all live downstream."

A fine view of the Table Rock Lake!

Oak Leaf Hydrangea is my new favorite flowering shrub! I just planted one at my home this spring.

Another fine view of Table Rock Lake

Wonderful rock work and landscaping!

College of the Ozarks is a college where no tuition is charged because all students work on campus; debt is openly discouraged. This "Hard Work U" has long been supported by the Master Gardeners of the Ozarks with a portion of the proceeds from this tour to be awarded as a full scholarship to a College of the Ozarks student whose study is plant-based. A CD is provided for a walking/driving tour of the campus. The annual flower beds, greenhouses, and 32 fruit/vegetable plots are of most interest. There is also a working mill. These gardens supply produce for the on site Farmer's Market that began in 2013, Dobson Dining Room in the Keeter Center, and for the Pearl Rogers Student Dining Room. There is also a dairy that produces and sells unpasteurized milk. Other products include meats, bedding plants, hanging baskets, Edward's Mill products, Fruitcake and Jelly Kitchen items, stained glass, and goodies for the student's Keeter Center. Most of the campus is self-sustaining which includes producing their own water, sewer treatment plant, steam heat, water cooling systems and more. www.cofo.edu

Master Gardeners greeters provide cold water and answer any questions between the mill and greenhouses/gardens. There was also a large dairy area but we decided not to visit today.